#Dissemination: a systematic review of the role of social media in circulating healthcare research (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Social media is a relatively new and popular means of disseminating information. However, regarding healthcare research there are concerns over the ability of social media to reach healthcare professionals, and its ability to convey a message that is representative of the research itself. To our knowledge, a review was yet to be conducted concerning the effective use of social media in communicating healthcare research OBJECTIVE The aim of this review was to assess the effectiveness of social media as a dissemination tool regarding healthcare research to professionals in the field. METHODS A scoping review was conducted to inform the search strategy. We searched EMBASE, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and conducted manual searches from March 2018 to August 2019, for peer-reviewed publications in English describing the effectiveness of social media in disseminating health research to healthcare professionals. No publication time restrictions were imposed. Social media was used to identify additional peer-reviewed papers. For all selected studies, an MMAT quality assessment was undertaken. RESULTS Forty-seven studies were identified for inclusion. The papers reviewed suggest that social media was a popular and effective means of disseminating health research findings. In particular, the use of Twitter was highlighted regarding its positive relationship with citations. Crucially, dissemination on social media was advantageous over purely using traditional methods. CONCLUSIONS Despite concerns over the value of using social media to encourage awareness of healthcare, overall, our review suggests a positive contribution. It provides a useful way of research to effectively reach healthcare professionals (as indicated by citation levels), whilst not misrepresenting research findings. Unfortunately, only four papers directly compared presence with absence of social media promotion. Given the apparent utility of social media for healthcare research, we would encourage more direct comparisons to be made promptly. CLINICALTRIAL PROSPERO Registration: CRD42018102083.